


A Million Reasons

by acklesftstyles



Category: The Walking Dead, tom holland - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Tom x Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-08
Updated: 2017-04-08
Packaged: 2018-10-16 00:04:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10559996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acklesftstyles/pseuds/acklesftstyles
Summary: Another mini fic for Shelby <3





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a crack not crack fic that I'm writing for fun but hmu on twitter if you want me to write you a crack fic too lmfao

Shelby's ears are ringing when she wakes up. Her mouth is dry she tries to swallow but her tongue isn't even wet. She wheezes as she sits up, trying assess the situation she's in. She does the 3 check assessment. 

"Hello?" She croaks trying to focus her eyes on the bright lights of what looks to be in a building? A hospital? While trying to wiggle her fingers and then her toes, the whine that comes from her mouth when she tries to move her toes is involuntary. 

"Shelby?" A voice asks as a chair squeaks. Shelby looks back from the roof and over to where the voice came from. It's all blurry and unfocused, there's a body, a torso leaning down beside her now "hey someone get Carson!" The voice says a lot louder than Shelby would appreciate at the moment. 

There's a distinct ringing noise after every sound she hears, the loud voice making her ears ring almost painfully now as she inhales. 

"Here, have some water." The voice is soft and calm, like the calm before the storm. Then there's the image of a cup focusing in front of Shelby's eyes. She wants a drink so badly but her tongue can't form the words to ask for it. Instead the person helps her lean forward and then a soft touch to her cheek has her heart rate going down 

She sips on the cool liquid, keeping it in her mouth for a few seconds before the cup is focused. Shelby feels so tired, sore all over. 

There is a loud ticking noise coming from the other side of the room, focusing on that and only that, the room slowly stops spinning as she takes another sip from the cup that is being thrusted at her lips. 

"Please drink," there's a small crack in the voice as the liquid slips down her throat once more. It's quite odd how calm she feels as there's a loud echoing bang across the room. Shelby's hand is then encompassed by another warmer hand and then there's voices and people's silhouettes. A bright light is flashed directly in her eyes and Shelby nearly cries at the brightness, her headache pounding against her skull. That's when she starts to freak out because she legitimately feels like she's about to die. 

A flurry of voices around her is slicing through her at once, never ending, echoing. The rush of everything and nothing all at once sets in her bones, 

"Wait no, Shelby don't sleep," That very same calm voice, that soft, warm voice. It's there again, this time closer, Shelby nods 

"Sleep" she croaks out, her headache slowly dulling as the voice whispers her name once more and then she's just... away.


	2. Before.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shit goes down, Shelby is a little shit. Tom is a dick. Aiden can choke.

Chapter 2. Before

"Don't you think that's a little... hmm, I don't know, dangerous?" Tara asks sarcastically, watching as she stands around the side, leaning against the truck as Shelby is bent over in the trunk. 

"What? Fire? Next to Gasoline? No not at all," Shelby rolls her eyes "That Tom guy asked me to do it. He actually kind of just told me to do it but I'm trying to be nice so." Shelby finishes as she packs the bag with the flares, guns and walkie talkies in the trunk besides the two jerrycans. 

"Hey um," Tara begins as she stands right in front of Shelby "that uh, Aiden guy is kind of hot, don't you think?" She asks but the question seems off and she is kind of awkward about it. Shelby just laughs and brings her hand up to Tara's face. 

"Tara, I know you're gay love." Shelby smirks with a nod, patting her friend on the cheek twice before walking away 

"Okay, thank fuck. So do you think Rosita is hot? Or is it just me?" 

"Yeah if I was a dude I'd do her. She kind of has a nice ass. I see it. Why? Do you like Rosita?" Shelby watches as she puts her knife securely into her belt. Tara shakes her head and slams the trunk closed. 

"No I just think she's hot, in a totally platonic friend way"

They're both looking over at where Rosita and Eugene are walking together across Alexandria, while talking and pointing into an old high school Chemistry book 

"Did I ever tell you Eugene asked me out?" Tara laughs as Glenn drives up beside them

Shelby laughs at her friend before Glenn is rolling down the window, he asks them to pull the car around so they can leave soon. Tara does as asked and Shelby climbs into the front seat when she parks the car behind Glenn's. 

Tom, Aiden and Nicholas all walk up with their backpacks strapped to their backs as if they weren't going out for a supply run today. Where would they even keep anything if they found it? Their bags are so big they'd take up the whole truck with just the 3 of them. 

"Hey, where we going today?" Tara asks as Shelby slides out of the passenger side window, she sits on the door and looks over to Nicholas and Aiden who are talking with Tara 

"Just a few miles North of here, we think there's a small outlet mall that wasn't touched because it was really overrun the first time we went there," Aiden explains as he hands Tara the map 

Noah slides into the back seat of the car, but not before he and Shelby do their handshakes. 

 

She's proud of how far she's come since she'd met Rick's group. 

 

Shelby had left Woodbury to join rick's group at the prison, and after it had fallen and Shelby had found them at Terminus, and seen Carol on the outskirts of the camp, she helped her help Rick and the others, after that they found Gabriel and then travelled to Atlanta for Beth at this hospital, when Noah had learned that Beth was one of the best friends he'd ever had, Tara, Noah and Shelby had all grown extremely close since. Of course she was close with everyone else, but now that everything was settling down and Tara, Noah and Shelby all lived in the same house, they'd all grown extremely close as friends. 

"Alright, let's go we don't have all day" That brown haired British dude speaks again as he slaps the trunk of the car "told Deanna I'd be back by 4 after the run to help her with her rain gutters" he says 

"Like that's our issue" Shelby scoffs making sure Tom knows she said it. She slides back into the car as Tom is standing on the other side, honest to god glaring at her. Shelby just snorts to herself as Tara restarts the car. 

\-- 

"What are we doing here?" Tara asks. They've been walking for a few minutes towards what looks to be an open field. 

Their run was successful. The small outlet mall was indeed untouched unaccounted for a few walkers here and there and the one electronic store was robbed but everything else was mainly untouched. 

"This is just a little thing we do every so often," Aiden says as they approach an open field, they're standing in the tree line and Glenn, Tara and Noah are all looking towards the field trying to see what the hell they're talking about but Shelby can only look at the blood tracks a few feet away from where Aiden and Nicholas are going. 

"Shit! Help us find it!" Nicholas says behind them and Shelby turns around and then she sees it. 

"Glenn." Shelby says looking at the ground, following the tracks to the path where Nicholas is. Beside them, they see the tree and the even more prominent blood splashes in the whole area. And then they all see it. The chain wrapped around the tree and strung up like a trap 

Shelby and Glenn lean down to inspect the chain, and can definitely identify the walker intestines still caught in the chainlinks. 

"You're trapping walkers?" Glenn asks as he steps in front of Shelby who is closest to the other two men. She cautiously grabs at her knife, looking over to Tara and Noah who have their hands the same, watching as Nicholas and Aiden walk towards them. 

Tom however is standing a few feet back into the tree line, obviously not really caring for the moment what Nicholas and Aiden are doing. He just looks like he'd rather eat a bowl of shit than be here at that moment. 

"Only the ones that killed our friends. Help me find him," Nicholas says just as Aiden yells out for the walker to hear

"Are you crazy?!" Shelby nearly yells herself but then she's pacing back and forth as Aiden and Nicholas start hooting and whistling and shouting and making so much damn noise. A small herd could be passing by at any moment, you never know especially in the woods. 

"Shut up you're gonna get all the walkers over here" Glenn says to Aiden who just rolls his eyes 

"We can come back later and just put up a new one" Nicholas shrugs as he starts pulling down the chains from the tree

"Killing them isn't supposed to be fun. They're dead humans. They're your mother and your father, and everyone you've ever known. Have some respect for the dead," Glenn says as he yanks the chains out of Nicholas' hands. 

Immediately everyone is springing towards them as they go toe to toe. Their chests are heaving as they stare one another down 

"You wanna try that again? See what happens" Nicholas says trying to psyche out Glenn but he doesn't even flinch. 

"We're leaving. Now." Glenn says towards Shelby and the others who nod and immediately move to leave

"Whoa we're not finished here. At all," Aiden says stepping towards Glenn. 

Aiden is a bit taller than Glenn and he kind of towers over him but I've seen what Glenn is capable of. 

"Okay, okay, enough. Let's just go" Tara says trying to get between the three men, I step forward to help her but Noah just shakes his head at me, I stop and then I hear the shuffling, 

My head turns quickly to the sound just as the roar of a walker is right by my ear, I wince as I'm pushed to the ground, trying not to get bit. 

Glenn is immediately at my aid, while I struggle to get the weight of the walker off of me, Glenn manages to slice his knife into the base of the walkers skull 

"Thank you" I sigh rolling the walker off of me. I huff as I roll onto my back 

"Aww you killed it! Fuck!" Aiden says grabbing the walker by its feet and start dragging it off towards the trees

"Really? That's what you're worried about?" Tara asks her voice almost angry "Shelby was almost bit but too bad your play thing is dead oh no" she says sarcastically as Noah is at her side immediately and holding her back 

"Enough. We will discuss this when we get home." Glenn's voice is stern and angry as he speaks. He leans down and swiftly pulls the knife out of the walkers head. 

-

"What happened?" Rick asks as Glenn storms past Aiden and Nicholas who are helping Tom unload the truck

"They don't get it. That they're dangerous." Glenn says a little bit too loudly as he looks over to them. 

The two men turn to look and Aiden is immediately walking over. Right then Deanna decides to show up. Good job Deanna. 

Shelby and Tom are standing by the truck as Tara is unloading the car when they hear Aiden and Glenn barking at each other. 

Tom and Shelby turn at the same time and watch as they're in each other's faces. They both immediately run over the second Aiden pushes at Glenn's chest harshly. 

Tom makes it first, pulling Aiden back just as Rick is pulling Glenn 

"You and your fucking people are a poison! Things were fucking amazing before you all came here!" Aiden yells

"You just don't get it, do you?" Shelby says standing in front of Glenn now who seems a lot calmer "that they're dangerous. Your friends died and you play and string up and put on a show with walkers." 

"Oh shut up" Tom says from behind them 

"You got something you wanna say to me," Shelby starts walking towards Tom now. She pushes at his chest as two hands pull at her arm, pulling her back. 

Shrugging whoever it is off, Tom pushes at her shoulders too as Aiden tries to get between them. She stumbles and falls onto her back. She's shocked he even had the audacity to put his hands on her. She stands and Tara reaches out for her once more and then Glenn and Noah are on her as she fights against them. 

"Get over here you little shit" Shelby growls as Aiden is holding back Tom now as Tom tries to charge her. 

Rick and Deanna are standing offside watching the whole thing go down 

This isn't actually the first fight that's happened between someone from Rick's group and Alexandria. 

"That's enough!" Rick's tone slices right through Shelby and they all stop. "Settle this right now," Rick says to Glenn who nods. 

Shelby shrugs off all of their holds and she stands there panting as she looks across at Tom who is whispering something to Aiden and then looking back towards her. Tom turns to Deanna 

"They don't belong here, none of them." Tom says "especially you." His voice is stone cold as the words rattle in Shelby's bones. 

Before anyone can even blink Shelby is pushing past Tara, already out of Noah and Glenn's reach and then she's shoving Aiden and her fist is flying and landing right against Tom's cheek, the momentum of her weight, mixed with her strength has Tom stumbling a few feet back. He trips over his own feet and falls onto his back. Shelby is immediately on him as she swings and her fist knocks into his nose. 

Within just 10 seconds Shelby has 2 hits in and is being pulled off and hauled over by two different people and she's still reaching for him. 

Tom sits up, his nose gushing with blood as Deanna and Rick are in a deep heated conversation. There's yelling and bodies being too close to Shelby for her liking 

"This is bullshit" Shelby grunts finally pulling her arm away from Glenn's strong hold. She turns around and walks towards the town houses. 

She shakes her hand out beside her as she walks, fist already starting to swell as she rubs over them. 

-

"I don't want to hear it anymore. I'm sorry it got out of hand but I'm not apologizing for punching him." Shelby says over the running water of the shower. 

"Deanna wants you to. It's only fair you did throw the first punch, without a.. good reason." Tara carefully chooses her words as she sits on the closed toilet seat lid. 

"No," Shelby says finally as she turns off the shower, she stands for a few seconds wringing out her hair as the water goes down the drain 

"Okay, whatever. I tried" Tara sighs and she hears her stand and her shoes shuffle against the floor. 

"Wait." Shelby says and opens the shower curtain to look at her friend Shelby wipes her face as she points to the towel. 

Tara rolls her eyes and hands her the towel before leaving the bathroom, the door closing shut behind her. 

-

That night, when Rick meets with Deanna to talk about the situation Deanna confesses she'd actually enjoyed watching Tom get knocked on his ass. But not for the wrong reason. She'd expect an apology from Shelby to Tom, and then she tells Rick she wants them to work together. 

And then they start a plan. 

-

The next morning, when Rick comes over right before Shelby has a few more hours of free time, Rick asks to talk to her. 

Rick more of less tells Shelby it's going to make life a whole lot more difficult for everyone if she and Tom don't at least get on a common ground. They don't have to be friends even, but they do need to know how to work together. 

When Rick leaves Shelby does the most teenager thing she can think of. She runs up to her room, slamming the door behind her. She dives onto her bed and she screams into her pillow. It's probably the most childish thing she's ever done but at least it helped a little. 

-

A few hours later Shelby finds herself standing in front of Tom, Izaac and Jordan's house. Although Izaac and Jordan are almost never home due to the fact that they're always on guard watch, Today they are all home. 

Izaac answers the door. 

"Hey Shelby," he smiles 

"Hey Izaac, I need to talk to Tom" Shelby sighs putting her hands into her pockets

"Do you though?" He smirks looking down at her hand which is red and swollen today, but it doesn't hurt as much. 

"Yeah, Deanna is making me apologize," Shelby rolls her eyes and they both laugh. Izaac calls for Tom and invites her in. She declines as Tom walks down the hallway. He can see through the glass of the door who it is

"Go fuck yourself" Tom says loud enough for her to hear and then he's walking back to wherever he came from

"Well I tried" Shelby shrugs and turns on her heel. 

She really did try. 

-

An hour later there's a knock on the door, and then the front door opens as Shelby sits at the island eating some dry cereal with an apple 

"Hey" Rick's gravelly voice is loud in the quiet big kitchen. 

"Hey," Shelby says casually taking a drink of water as Rick stands in the doorway of the kitchen. He sighs and rubs his beard before putting both hands on his hips 

"Okay, look" Shelby starts to tell him that she knows what he did was fucked up but she's not going to apologize or anything

"No," 

Shelby stays silent as Rick walks across the room. He leans against the island and nods 

"You did a stupid thing, I get it. We all have. But me and Deanna both agree that it wasn't the best thing to do in that situation," Rick's voice goes soft next "but I'll stand by you. Whatever happens, you're my family. Just as much as Maggie and Glenn and Daryl. You're like a daughter to me," the words make Shelby's tummy do flips

"Aww Rick," she says with a laugh as she tears up. He leans over and hugs her, hand cradling around her neck as she wraps her arms around his waist

"Now you're not gonna like this" he says crossing his arms over his chest. He looks down to the ground and then back up at Shelby to look her in the eyes "Deanna brought up the idea of you and Tom coming off of the runs with Glenn," he holds a finger up when Shelby is about to object. He almost looks pained to say it "and you're gonna still go on runs with me, and Aaron and Daryl too if you want. But Deanna thinks it best if you both work here, a few of the town houses weren't finished. She wants you both to work on them. Now I seen you at the prison and what you can do. I know you're more than capable. This is another chance to really really belong here. Earn your spot. Even if you have to see him everyday." Rick says and the words slowly sink in to Shelby. She sighs and nods. 

It would be a good idea to genuinely try and become well acquainted with Tom at least. Especially since he's roommates with Izaac and Jordan. 

"Okay, yeah." Shelby nods 

"Good girl." Rick smiles and steals an apple slice before he leaves. "You and Tom meet tomorrow morning around 9 to begin working. It's hard work but I know you'll be able to get it done. There's no rush" Rick nods as he exits the kitchen. 

"All we got is time" Shelby mumbles to herself when he's gone.


End file.
